


The Coffee Pot Incident

by WhoStarLocked



Series: All The Unknown Faces [4]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: BAMF Natasha Romanov, Bucky Barnes Remembers, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Coffee, Not Canon Compliant, POV Bucky Barnes, Pre-Slash, Team Dynamics, Too Much Sugar, clint is a human disaster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 10:47:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18497371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhoStarLocked/pseuds/WhoStarLocked
Summary: An early birthday gift for my awesome, awesome, friend ihaventsleptyetits4amoops, I really really hope you like it, and I cannot wait to see you again (it has been too damn long).Bucky and Natasha like strong-brew Russian coffee. But Clint, the resident caffeine addict, feels differently.AkA, no one should let Clint make decisions for himself before 10 a.m.





	The Coffee Pot Incident

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ihaventsleptyetits4amoops (themechanicsnightmare)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/themechanicsnightmare/gifts).



> Based on this prompt: Russian coffee + "Exactly how much sugar are you putting in that thing?"   
>  from a couple of friends. I hope you like it, sorry it's taken months to write and post!

The Coffee Pot Incident

 

Bucky likes to try new foods. He’s finding lately that with tastes come memories, and he’s come on in leaps and bounds.

For some reason, he really freakin’ loves strong-brewed Russian coffee.  It reminds him of a lot, little shattered fragments of memories rushing round his brain just at the smell. He doesn’t think all of them are good memories, in fact he’s pretty sure the grey, damp concrete walls it makes him remember is the room with that fucking chair, but he’s not certain. It also makes him think of a girl – a little girl, dancing, red hair flying round her head in a ponytail as she spins. He thinks the girl is Natalia, but he doesn’t ask. Natasha, he’s learned, doesn’t like speaking about her past, and really, Bucky can’t blame her. The small shards he remembers of teaching her to fight, to kill, say enough about the horrors of her young life.

But yeah, he really loves his coffee.

It’s nice, in a way, when he starts making new memories based around the beverage. Like when he and Nat vehemently told Steve to brew some other coffee, because he wouldn’t like it, and, being Steve, he didn’t listen. Bucky’s lips curl up into a grin whenever he thinks about the way Steve had looked, trying to keep a straight face while swallowing it.

And now, it would seem that Clint is about to do the same thing.

Normally, at the tower, Clint utilizes none of the skills he’s developed as an assassin over the years. Normally, at 8:30 a.m., Clint would be so desperate for caffeine that he’d just guzzle it from the carafe, much to Stark’s horror, and everyone else’s amusement. 

Evidently, he’s been partnered with Natasha for too long. Clint picks up the carafe, seemingly still asleep, but just before he sets it to his lips, he stops. Frowning, he sniffs the coffee tentatively.

“Awwww, Russians, nooooo.” He whines, placing the carafe back on the side. Bucky grins, watching as Clint seems to falter in the kitchen.

When he starts opening and shutting cupboards, Bucky slinks forwards, refills his cup and takes a sip as he watches.  Clint in the meantime, has pulled out a bag of sugar. Bucky watches with interest as he begins to pour it into the carafe.

“Exactly how much sugar are you putting in that thing?” Bucky asks, eyebrows rising steadily as the bag nears empty.

“All of the sugar.” Clint replies through a yawn.

Steve, who’d been sitting at the breakfast island, ignoring both of them in favour of a newspaper, turns round sharply at that.

“No!” He barks out, loudly enough to make Clint jump. He gets up, clearly aiming to get between Clint and the coffee. “No, no, no, no, no. You are not drinking that, you’ll-”

He’s broken off by a whine.

Bucky’s shoulders start shaking in suppressed laughter. Steve has paused with one hand on the pot, watching Clint with a perplexed look as Clint just continues to stare at him, clutching the carafe close to his chest. 

_Oh, wow_ , Bucky thinks to himself, _Clint’s puppy dog eyes are actually damn effective._ He finds himself wanting to hand over his own cup of coffee to the man.  Steve’s resolve is also clearly failing, he sighs and withdraws his hand.

“Don’t blame me when you crash later.” He mutters, handing Clint a cup.

Clint’s bright smile as he brings the pot up to his lips – completely ignoring the cup Steve is still holding out to him – makes it seem worth the loss of his coffee.

Steve rolls his eyes as he puts the unused cup away.

“Give me strength.” He sighs, looking skyward. “Training starts in half an hour guys.”

Bucky nods at him with a grin as he turns to leave.

He keeps watching in silence as Clint finishes most of the pot before pausing.

“Mmm, that’s so much better.”  He mutters, picking up a wash cloth and wiping the place on the glass he’d drank from.  He turns to Bucky and smiles brightly. “Good morning.”

“Morning.” Bucky replies, lifting his cup in an informal salute.

“So, why the new habit of fucking with my caffeine?” Clint asks, leaning against the side, arms crossed.

Bucky snorts. “His caffeine, he says, like he ever buys it.” His grin only widens when Clint scowls at him.

“That is entirely besides the point.” He replies. “Why are you suddenly drinking that... stuff?” Clint flaps his hand vaguely at Bucky’s cup.

“Because I like it. Because it brings back memories.” Bucky answers honestly.

Clint pulls a face.

“They can’t be good memories.” He mutters.

Bucky laughs, weirdly delighted with Clint’s assessment.

* * *

When the team meets for training, Clint is, predictably, thrumming with energy. Tony takes one look at him, eyes narrowing.

“So you’re the one who put the sugar in the carafe. Not cool, Barton.” He declares.

“Fight me, Stark.” Clint replies, grinning and looking about ready to start bouncing off the walls.

They’re waiting on Natasha, which is rare. After a couple more minutes, Steve shifts uncomfortably, says,

“Anyone know where she is?”

“She got called in to SHIELD for a meeting at like, four, and came back and slept through her alarm.” Clint babbles, fingers tapping restlessly against the riser of his bow.

“Well, we’ll wait a few more minutes then, before we start.” Steve conceded.

Eventually, she shows, slamming both doors wide open as she stalks into the room. Her face is a cool mask of anger, and as she storms over to the group, Bucky can’t help but think that she’s about to massacre them.

“You!” She glares, jabbing a finger. “You desecrated my coffee!” She hisses, and Bucky is distantly reminded of a feral cat. Next to him, Clint draws in a breath.

“Oh shit.” He murmurs quietly. When Bucky glances over, Clint has both arms raised slightly, like he’s approaching a scared animal. The image is only ruined by the fact that he starts edging backwards as Nat makes her way over.

“Nat, come on, it’s only coffee!” By the end of the sentence, his voice comes out as an undignified squeak. Nat is almost on him, despite his backing away, and with another whispered profanity, he turns tail and runs across the training room, Natasha hot on his heels.

Bucky can’t help but laugh, and he decides as he watches Clint being chased around the gym while the rest of them watch, that although it's good to have his old memories, the new ones are infinitely better.


End file.
